The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has insisted this Monday in a TVE interview in which the PP “always” has revalued pensions “according to the CPI”, despite the fact that in 2012, in 2013 and in 2017, under PP governments, pensioners lost purchasing power because the increase in retirement benefits was less than the average rate of the CPI. Feijóo has come to demand a live rectification from the journalist Silvia Intxaurrondo, who questioned her statement, alluding to the data from those three years. After the commotion caused by the incorrect statement of the PP candidate, Feijóo has published two tweets to “clarify” his “inaccurate” information, stating that the PP “raised pensions every year”, without saying that it did so according to the CPI , which is false.
This has been the sequence of the scuffle between the PP leader and the TVE journalist:
Feijóo: We always have. Our party has never stopped revaluing pensions according to the CPI. The only party that froze pensions was the PSOE. And, by the way, Mr. Sánchez was a deputy. We always have.
Intxaurrondo: It is not correct, Mr. Feijóo.
F. “It is absolutely correct.
YO. They did not do it in 2012 or in 2013 or in 2017.
What affects the most is what happens closer. To not miss anything, subscribe.
subscribe
F. I don’t know where you get that from. I reiterate it again: we have always revalued pensions according to the CPI. When the CPI is negative or zero, we even raised them by a quarter of a point. Therefore, I reiterate: review the data.
YO. No, my data is correct, Mr. Feijóo. Neither in 2012 nor in 2013 nor in 2017.
F. Good. Since there is a newspaper library, you are going to verify what I tell you. And I’m telling you, if I’m wrong, I apologize, and if you are, I hope you say so on this show. Because I reiterate: the PP has revalued pensions according to the CPI, and when the CPI was negative or was below 0.25 it revalued them by a quarter of a point. The only party that did not revalue pensions was the PSOE. I reiterate it again. Therefore, I ask for rectification in the event that you are in error.
What does the data say? In 2012 the PP government, with Mariano Rajoy as president, raised pensions by 1%, with which pensioners lost 1.4% in purchasing power as the increase was lower than the CPI, which stood, on average, at 2.4%, according to official data from the INE that can be consulted here. That year, the then Vice President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, acknowledged at a press conference in the Council of Ministers that the Executive could not face an increase in line with prices. “Today the CPI data was released, it is not the final one, but the anticipated one, which stands at 2.9%. With these figures and taking into account the state of public accounts, the Government cannot cope with an update of 1.9% due to the situation of the Social Security treasury”, said Sáenz de Santamaría.
In 2013, the rise was 2% for retirees who earned less than 1,000 euros —the majority, with which they gained purchasing power— as inflation, in the real annual average, was 1.4%. However, those who earned more than 1,000 euros had a rise of 1% and therefore lost purchasing power.
In 2017, the increase in these benefits was 0.25%, with which the loss of purchasing power was 1.8% (inflation in the real annual average was 2%).
After the clash on TVE caused a stir on Twitter, where many users made his mistake ugly, Feijóo has released two tweets to qualify his words, which say: “As I promised, I clarify: I reiterate that the @ppopular He never froze pensions and the PSOE did, with Sánchez’s vote. The PP raised pensions every year and the PSOE did not. Even when it was easy to freeze them, as the PSOE did, we also uploaded them. I don’t mind clarifying any statement if it has been inaccurate, contrary to Sánchez, whose arrogance would never allow it. We are still waiting for him to deny all his lies in the debate, such as the one that the PSOE did not freeze pensions ”. Sources from the PP leader’s environment have explained later that he was referring to the fact that the PP always raised pensions, not that it did so in accordance with the CPI, although in the interview on TVE he has said up to three times “according to the CPI”.
I don’t mind clarifying any statement if it has been inaccurate, contrary to Sánchez, whose arrogance would never allow it.
We are still waiting for him to deny all his lies in the debate, such as the one that the PSOE did not freeze pensions.
— Alberto Núñez Feijóo (@NunezFeijoo) July 17, 2023
The interview has left another clash on account of another statement that Feijóo has had to retract. It is about his accusation against Sánchez that the National Court had archived the Pegasus case due to lack of collaboration from his Government, when it was actually due to lack of collaboration from Israel. On TVE, Feijóo has used this new clash to continue insisting that he was right about the revaluation of pensions, despite the fact that later he also had to qualify.
Intxaurrondo. You said that the Pegasus case was closed due to the lack of collaboration from the President of the Government. Two days later he admitted that he had been wrong. I wonder how a man of his background, of his career, of his level, can disseminate unverified information that affects the security of the State.
Feijóo. Look, a man from my formation has just told you live that the PP revalued pensions and you say no. It seems that someone is wrong and I have the feeling that it is you.
YO. In the Pegasus case, you were the one who admitted being wrong.
F. If I read a teletype in the morning or in the afternoon that tells me that, then perhaps I should check more teletypes. But this is what a teletype issued by an agency that perhaps was not exactly there tells me.
YO. Do you remember which agency issued it?
F. No, I don’t remember. There are eleven pages of lies from the President of the Government in the debate.
The agencies Efe, Europa Press (EP) and Servimedia, the three most influential Spanish agencies, headlined their teletypes on July 10, attributing Israel’s lack of collaboration. “The judge archives the Pegasus case due to Israel’s “absolute” lack of legal cooperation,” said the EFE note. “The AN [Audiencia Nacional] files the case on the spying on Sánchez with Pegasus and detects up to five intrusions on his phone. He criticizes Israel’s lack of collaboration,” EP wrote. “The National Court archives the ‘Pegasus case’ due to Israel’s lack of cooperation,” was the headline of Servimedia. Feijóo not only accused Sánchez of lack of cooperation with justice in the debate, but he also did so the day after at a party event in Badajoz, when the work of fact-checking from face to face he had already revealed that this accusation was not true. Later, on Friday, in an interview on Onda Cero, he acknowledged that “perhaps it was not correct.”
Receive the newsletter every afternoon electoral newspaperwith the analysis of Ricardo de Querol, deputy director, and Luis Barbero, editor-in-chief of the edition.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
#Feijóo #insists #false #fact #revalued #pensions #CPI #qualify